1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved sanitizing formulation. Sanitizing formulations currently in use are designed particularly for use in the treatment of baby's napkins and the present formulation has been developed particularly for use in this area. However, the formulation of the invention is not restricted to the treatment of baby's napkins and may also be used for a variety of sanitizing, bleaching, cleansing, deodorizing, stain removing and/or purposes in other domestic or institutional laundries. Accordingly, although for convenience, the following description will refer primarily to the use of the formulations in conjunction with the treatment of baby's napkins, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this application.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is desirable that products used for napkin treatment will both kill the bacteria present on the wet or soiled napkin and will also remove such stains as may be present on the napkin. It is further desirable that the treatment solution in which the napkins being treated are soaked will remain microbiologically active and bleach active for an extended period to cope with random additions of wet and soiled napkins.
Many current napkin treatment formulations rely on the formation of hypochlorous acid in solution and hence on the bleaching and antimicrobial effect of this acid. However, the action of chlorine releasing formulations is susceptible to significant deterioration by the presence of the organic matter in the treatment solution, provided by wet and soiled napkins. Furthermore, the bleaching action of such formulations is undesirable for applications other than napkin treatment where colour fastness becomes an important consideration. The use of peroxy hydrate compounds which, in solution, release hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent have also been proposed for use in napkin treatment formulations. In the latter formulations however, the stability of the released hydrogen peroxide in solution and the consequent ability of the soak solution to retain its activity for the required extended period has hitherto been a problem for which no fully satisfactory solution has been found.
Numerous bleaching compositions containing peroxy hydrate compounds have been proposed, such as those discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,956,156, 3,960,743, 4,003,700 and 4,064,062, which require some form of activator for the peroxy hydrate compound. These specifications also disclose the desirability of further additives to reduce the amount of activator required in such compositions. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,606,990 and 4,231,890 disclose the use of further materials to this type of composition to inhibit decomposition of the peroxy hydrate compound.